Dear Elie,
After
I finished your book I found myself unable to do anything, but sit quietly and
think. Think about the Holocaust, your story,
the world, and myself. I firmly believe
in the saying everything happens for a reason.
So why, I wonder, did the Holocaust take place? Humans have not learned their lesson, and
frankly I do not think they ever will. A
few years ago I read a book called A Long
Way Gone. It is a story about a child soldier in the Sierra Leone civil
war. The protagonist becomes a witness
of modern day genocide, and he is forced to carry on alone after his family is
slaughtered. This war took place during
the 1990’s. This really shook me,
because these things happened in my lifetime.
We have such a sheltered life here in America that we forget about the world’s
poverty, war, and genocide. Why is it
that no one knows or cares about these terrible things? I don’t think there is one correct answer,
but I do believe that people are selfish.
One only has to read about the scene in the cattle cars when you say, “In
the wagon where the bread had landed, a battle had ensued. Men were hurling themselves against one another,
trampling, tearing at and mauling each other” (Wiesel 101). Selfishness is one of human beings worst traits;
if we were never selfish would the holocaust have happened? No, of course not, people wouldn’t have stood
for it. To prevent something like the holocaust
from happening again, we must overcome our selfishness and lookout for our
fellow humans.
Through
all of your books horrors, the only thing that gave me hope for society was you
Elie. No matter how much you were
suffering, you always cared about you fellow humans. When you were leaving Gleiwitz you did one of
the bravest things imaginable during a selection. “The SS officers were doing selection: the
weak, to the left; those who walked well to the right. My father was sent to the left. I ran after
him” (Wiesel 96). With total disregard for
your own life, you followed your father, because you knew he couldn’t live
without you. The confusion that you
caused allowed you and your father to switch to the good side, and that make me
smile. They say what goes around comes around,
and your selfless actions helped you and your father survive that selection. I figured that if a boy my age could be so
courageous in the face of danger, then humanity must be good deep down. Thank you for sharing your story Elie; you
have taught me so much is such a short book.
I’m sure that if every single person was able to read this book, the
world would be a much better place.
Sincerely,
Jeffrey Scott
Jeff,
ReplyDeleteYour comment, "We have such a sheltered life here in America that we forget about the world’s poverty, war, and genocide" really interested me. I one hundred percent agree with your statement. Often in life, when humans are afraid of the truth, they prefer to hide from it. On a smaller scale, when students aren't confident about a certain test they would prefer to not hear the grade. On a larger scale, as you mentioned society ignores global problems in hope that they will vanish. However, humans need to accept and live with the reality of the world around them. Whether the truth is good or bad, one needs to accept it; then learn from it. Humanity need to take off their 'blinders' and unshelter themselves from the world. Living with an open mind allows you to learn and grow as a person each every day.
Sincerely,
Elie
Dear Jeff,
ReplyDeleteHey Jeff! It's so nice of you to write to me, and it shows me that my book is doing what I intended it to... to help people remember and care. It brought me such great joy when I read that you had to just sit and think about my book and my experiences. And I couldn't agree with you more that many countries in this world are guilty of sheltered their youth and themselves from the tragedies and horrible truths. To answer your question, i think that nobody cares because they don't want to accept the fact that it can actually happen right now in our "great" world. They don't want to remember because it was so horrible, but I was apart of the Holocaust and I believe that it's very important to know about it and remember all of those who died. You are also right when you say that humans have an epic flaw of selfishness that drove many of them to stay out of the way in fear of loosing their lives and not being to save ours. Which is why I wrote my book, to tell people not to hide and watch from the shadows but to act in the light and defend each other. I feel such joy that you would put all of your faith into me to survive which was one of the main reasons i was able too. I didn't think i could do it, but i knew my mother, sisters, and father were cheering me on from above. All I could think of was them which was what allowed me to concentrate on the struggle at hand and not "resting my eyes". I thank you Jeff for all of your kind and touching words about my book and like you, i hope more people will read this and comprehend it in the same way that you did. The world is pretty good, but there is always room for improvement I believe your right, the world could be a better place. The first step would be for you to help people where you can and most of all help a fellow human being if in trouble. Please Jeff let your voice be heard.
From,
Elie Wiesel